Some Thoughts on Disturbances in the Formation and Retention of Imagos

Abstract

I explore an aspect in the development of the psyche which takes place within the infant−mother relationship during the phase of transitional phenomena (Winnicott, 1953), namely the creation of a primary imago. I draw on the Robertson film Young Children in Brief Separation (1969) to illustrate the fading of a toddler's primary imago in response to the trauma of maternal separation. I describe work with patients where maternal separation appears to have disturbed the formation and retention of the primary imago along with the capacity to develop secondary ones. We know psychotherapy can re‐start ‘maturational processes’ that became ‘dammed up because of a failure of the facilitating environment’ (Winnicott, 1965). I suggest psychotherapy can rekindle the capacity to create and retain imagos allowing for greater self‐regulation and a ‘capacity to be alone’ considered ‘one of the most important signs of maturity in emotional development’ (Winnicott, 1958).